Editing Váli

[[File:Wali by C. E. Doepler.jpg|thumb|Váli as depicted by [[Carl Emil Doepler]],1882]]
{{short description|Norse deity, son of Odin}}
{{About|a son of Odin in Norse mythology||Vali (disambiguation){{!}}Vali}}

In [[Norse mythology]], '''Váli''' ([[Old Norse]]) or '''Boe''' or '''Bous''' ([[Latin]]) is a [[Norse god|god]] and the son of the god [[Odin]] and [[Rindr]] (who is either a [[Æsir|goddess]] herself or a human princess, depending on the sources). Váli has [[Sons of Odin|numerous brothers]] including [[Thor]], [[Baldr]], and [[Víðarr]]. He was born for the sole purpose of avenging [[Baldr]],<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last1=Bellingham |first1=David |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/27192394 |title=Myths and Legends |last2=Whittaker |first2=Clio |last3=Grant |first3=John |publisher=Wellfleet Press |year=1992 |isbn=1-55521-812-1 |location=Secaucus, New Jersey |pages=47 |oclc=27192394}}</ref> and does this by killing [[Höðr]], who was an unwitting participant, and binding [[Loki]] with the entrails of his son [[Narfi and Nari|Narfi]]. Váli grew to full adulthood within one day of his birth, and slew Höðr before going on to Loki. He is prophesied to survive [[Ragnarök]].<ref name=":0" />

== Attestations ==
===Icelandic sources===
The Váli myth is referred to in ''[[Baldrs draumar]]'':

:Rindr will bear Váli
:in western halls;
:that son of Óðinn
:will kill when one night old – 
:he will not wash hand,
:nor comb head,
:before he bears to the pyre
:Baldr's adversary.
: — translation by [[Ursula Dronke]]

In ''[[Völuspá]]'':

:There formed from that stem,
:which was slender-seeming,
:a shaft of anguish, perilous:
:Hǫðr started shooting.
:A brother of Baldr
:was born quickly:
:he started – Óðinn's son – 
:slaying, at one night old.

He was thought of as a great [[Archery|archer]] and a courageous fighter on the battlefield.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Vali - Students |url=https://kids.britannica.com/students/article/Vali/313972 |access-date=2023-05-05 |website=Britannica Kids |publisher=[[Encyclopedia Britannica]] |language=en-US}}</ref> The ''[[Prose Edda]]'' (''[[Gylfaginning]]'') describes him:

:One is called Ali or Váli, son of [[Odin]] and Rindr: He is daring in fights, and a most fortunate marksman.

In stanza 51 of ''[[Vafthrúdnismál]]'', [[Vafþrúðnir]] states that he will survive Ragnarök, along with his brother [[Víðarr]] and the sons of [[Thor]], [[Móði and Magni]]:

:<small>Stanza 51:</small>
:"In the gods' home Vithar | and Vali shall dwell,
:When the fires of [[Surtr|Surt]] have sunk;
:Mothi and Magni | shall [[Mjölnir|Mjollnir]] have
:When Vingnir falls in fight."

===''Gesta Danorum''===
''[[Gesta Danorum]]'' by [[Saxo Grammaticus]] is a [[euhemerism|euhemerised]] account of the history of the kings of [[Denmark]], but draws on other mythological stories and presents them in a historical context (i.e. presenting gods as human figures from the past). In this story, after the death of Balder at the hands of Hother (the human king of Denmark and Sweden), Odin (a human sorcerer who was believed to be a god) enchants Rinda (a human princess of the Ruthenians) and fathers Boe or Bous on her. This crime leads Odin to be exiled by the other gods for nearly 10 years. When he returns, he seeks out Boe and encourages him to take revenge on Hother. Hother, foreseeing that he will die in the battle, passes the kingship on to his son [[Hrœrekr Ringslinger|Rorik]]. Hother meets Boe in battle and is killed, but Boe also dies of his wounds a day later. The Ruthenian army held a funeral for him and buried him in a barrow.<ref>[https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1150/1150-h/1150-h.htm#book3  The Danish History, Books I-IX], Book 3, English translation by Oliver Elton</ref>

== Parentage ==
Early mistranslation or confusion has led to a single mention of a [[Váli (son of Loki)|Váli who is a son of Loki]]: "''Þá váru teknir synir Loka, Váli ok Nari eða Narfi''" from the ''Prose Edda'',<ref name="hi.is">{{cite web |editor-first=Eysteinn |editor-last=Björnsson |url=http://www.hi.is/~eybjorn/gg/ |series=Snorra-Edda |title=Formáli & Gylfaginning: Textar fjögurra meginhandrita |year=2005 |access-date=2017-03-10 |archive-date=2008-06-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080611212105/http://www.hi.is/~eybjorn/gg/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> translated as "Then were taken Loki's sons, Váli and Nari".<ref name="pp. 76–77">{{cite book |editor-link=Arthur Gilchrist Brodeur |editor=Brodeur, Arthur Gilchrist |translator=[[Arthur Gilchrist Brodeur|Brodeur, Arthur Gilchrist]] |title=The Prose Edda |author-link=Snorri Sturluson |first=Snorri |last=Sturluson |series=Scandinavian Classics |volume=5 |orig-year=1916 |oclc=974934 |place=New York, NY / Charleston, SC |publisher=[[The American-Scandinavian Foundation]] / BiblioBazaar |year=2008 |isbn=9780559130960 |pages=76–77 |via=Google Books |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iDpcAAAAMAAJ&q=He+appears+to+have+interpreted+the+H+text+Vdla+vigbpnd+as+%27bonds+from+Vali%27s+act+of+slaughter%27%2C+since+he+relates+that+Vali+}}</ref> We find the original of the only reference to Váli as ''the son of Loki'', while even the same text refers to Baldr's death being avenged by his brother (in ''Völuspá'' 33<ref>"From the branch which seemed | so slender and fair
Came a harmful shaft | that Hoth should hurl;
But the brother of Baldr | was born ere long,
And one night old | fought Othin's son." – ''Völuspá'' 33</ref>) as well as Váli being the Son of Odin in ''Völuspá'' 51, which is repeated in ''Baldr's draumar''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cybersamurai.net/Mythology/nordic_gods/LegendsSagas/Edda/PoeticEdda/BaldrsDraumar.htm |title=Baldrs Draumar |access-date=2019-11-08 |archive-date=2007-10-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012211118/http://cybersamurai.net/Mythology/nordic_gods/LegendsSagas/Edda/PoeticEdda/BaldrsDraumar.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |quote=Bellows' translation with clickable names |url=http://www.northvegr.org/lore/poetic2/005.php |title=Vegtamskviða eða Baldrs Draumar |editor-link=Benjamin Thorpe |editor-last=Thorpe |editor-first=Benjamin |access-date=2017-03-10 |archive-date=2007-03-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070312145608/http://www.northvegr.org/lore/poetic2/005.php |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In the late period ''[[Gesta Danorum]]'' we also see that Odin is said to have a son with Rinda that will avenge his other son, Baldr's, death – though in this case the name of this new son is [[Beowa|Boe]] rather than Váli. In all these tales Odin goes out immediately – either through seduction, deception, or force – to sire this son.{{efn|Note that an avenging son would not have been needed if Odin's goal had been only the destruction of the blind and defenseless [[Höðr]].}}

Similarly where each of these documents ascribe Váli the role of Loki's son we see only in the postscript or translation notes that this transformation was a punishment when in fact the gift of wolf's strength and rage is well attested as being granted by Odin to warriors known as ''[[ulfhednar]]'', which would make his son Váli a [[Berserker]] and a possible origin for the ''ulfhednar'' legend.

Finally we see a different description in [[Hauksbók]]. In this version of ''[[Völuspá]]'', stanza&nbsp;34 begins: "''Þá kná Vála | vígbǫnd snúa''", usually amended to the nominative ''Váli'' in order to provide a subject for the verb; [[Ursula Dronke]] translates it as "Then did Váli | slaughter bonds twist"<ref name=Dronke>{{cite book |editor-link=Ursula Dronke |editor-first=Ursula |editor-last=Dronke |translator=Dronke, Ursula |series=The Poetic Edda |volume=II |title=Mythological Poems |place=Oxford, UK |publisher=Oxford University Press / Clarendon Press |orig-year=1997 |year=2001 |isbn=9780198111818 |page=76 |via=Google Books |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iDpcAAAAMAAJ&q=He+appears+to+have+interpreted+the+H+text+Vdla+vigbpnd+as+%27bonds+from+Vali%27s+act+of+slaughter%27%2C+since+he+relates+that+Vali+}}</ref> which presumably refers to Váli, son of [[Odin|Óðinn]], who was begotten to avenge Baldr's death, and thus it is likely that he bound Loki, while it is highly improbable that it refers to a Váli, son of Loki, who is attested nowhere but one line of the ''Prose Edda''.{{efn|The ''Prose Edda'' itself confirms the existence of Váli son of Odin and avenger of Baldr in two locations.<ref>{{cite book |editor-link=Ursula Dronke |editor-first=Ursula |editor-last=Dronke |translator=[[Ursula Dronke]] |series=The Poetic Edda |volume=II |title=Mythological Poems |place=Oxford, UK |publisher=Oxford University Press / Clarendon Press |orig-year=1997 |year=2001 |isbn=9780198111818}}</ref>}}

==Footnotes==
{{notelist|1}}

==References==
{{commons category|Váli}}
{{Reflist|25em}}

* {{cite book |editor-link=Ursula Dronke |editor-first=Ursula |editor-last=Dronke |translator=[[Ursula Dronke |Dronke, Ursula]] |series=The Poetic Edda |volume=II |title=Mythological Poems |place=Oxford, UK |publisher=Clarendon Press |year=1997 |isbn=9780198111818}}
* {{cite book |author-link=Finnur Jónsson |first=Finnur |last=Jónsson |year=1913 |title=Goðafræði Norðmanna og Íslendinga eftir heimildum |place=Reykjavík |publisher=Hið íslenska bókmentafjelag}}

{{Norse mythology}}

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